


She Ran All the Way

by Masu_Trout



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Competence Kink, F/M, First Kiss, Hurt/Comfort, Rescue, Robot/Human Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-31
Updated: 2016-10-31
Packaged: 2018-08-28 04:09:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8431327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Masu_Trout/pseuds/Masu_Trout
Summary: Honestly, he wasn't expecting to be rescued.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tuesday](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tuesday/gifts).



“We have to stop meeting like this,” Nora said, her face streaked with gore and sweat. She was smiling at him through the thick-set bars of the old police station's cell, but the grin dropped off her face as she drew closer to him. “God, Nick, what did they _do_ to you?”

Nick didn't have the glands to produce adrenaline, but that didn't make the rush of relief that coursed through his body at the sound of her voice any less potent. He'd been expecting the goons who captured him would realize the information he'd given them was complete rubbish any minute now—he'd been surprised the raiders didn't figure it out right away, actually, they just didn't make lowlifes like they used to—and he had _not_ been looking forward to round two of Let's See if the Machine Can Feel Pain. 

A game where only one side was having fun wasn't much of a game at all, in his opinion, but these folks didn't seem to see eye-to-eye with him on that one. Shame, really.

He was aware he had to look a rather pathetic wreck. He was stuck in place, tied to the wall of his cell at each wrist and ankle. His artificial flesh was peeling in a few new places, his coat and suit were very nearly shredded, and his body felt strangely slack on one side. 

Still, he tried to offer Nora his most comforting smile. “Nothing a few reconnected wires and a bit of oil won't fix.”

Her mouth was fixed in a hard line as she slid a bobby pin from her sleeve. “Once you're out, I'm going to go upstairs and kill them _again_ ,” she said quietly. She kept her voice light, but there was no missing the fury in the way she attacked the cell door's lock. “Once clearly wasn't enough.”

The original Nick might have said something like _you shouldn't have come_ or _I could have taken care of it_ —he could feel the instinct, borne of old memories, itching at the back of his mind. (Always a lone wolf, that one, petrified of asking for help. A real Boston detective.) But this Nick was smart enough to realize that he very well couldn't have taken care of it; he would have died down here if she hadn't come for him. 

And anyway, he _was_ very glad to see her, would have been even if she weren't in the middle of saving him from certain doom. Nora had that effect on people.

“Thanks for showing up again,” he said. “One of these days I'll repay the favor, promise.”

She gave him a flat, unimpressed look, though the smile curling at the corner of her mouth took the edge off it. “Save it 'til we're out of here, all right? And anyway, I'll never need repaid, because unlike _some_ folks I could mention I take people with me when I go off wandering through the wilderness.”

“Don't see anyone here with you now.”

“Codsworth's out guarding the front entrance, just in case.”

For all that he liked Codsworth's personality, Nick wasn't sure a Mr. Handy with minimal combat features really counted as adequate backup in the wasteland. He kept his mouth shut, though. Arguing that Nora shouldn't travel with robots would have been more than a bit self-sabotaging, given his entire existence. 

Nora stayed knelt over with the lock for a few more moments before sighing and standing back up. “Okay, I give up. I'm shit at lockpicking.” With that, she slid her shotgun out of its holster. 

“Ah,” Nick said. “Taking the subtle approach, I see.”

“You know me. Subtle's my middle name.”

Nick couldn't hold back a laugh. Three weeks ago—or was it a month now? Just how long had he been in here?—they'd ended up in a close range brawl with a deathclaw, a battle that ended only when Nora hit it with a succession of five impeccably-timed grenades. 

He'd met people who acted more outrageous before (raiders with colored hair and clothes made of nothing more than strategic leather strips, men who swaggered around in suits and overdone accents like they'd wandered out of the 1920's, _Hancock_ ), but he'd never met someone quite so committed to unsubtlety as a life philosophy. Even people who'd grown up in the wasteland didn't often know how to react to her particular mix of diplomatic charm and devotion to sheer brute force as a backup strategy for every single situation.

Sometimes he wished his original self could have met her, back then. She must have been the greatest prosecutor the courtroom had ever seen. (Admittedly, she'd probably never hurled grenades at the opposing counsel, but Nick couldn't quite rule the possibility out. Didn't want to, really; the mental image was fantastic.)

One shot was all it took to blast the old, rusted lock to smithereens. Nora threw the door open and rushed to his side without a second glance at the destruction.

“Fuck, Nick,” she breathed, looking down at him. Her hands were white-knuckled at her sides. 

His gaze dropped to the floor. Nick had been dreaming about rescue for days, maybe weeks. If he were capable of properly sleeping, he'd be worried this was an _actual_ dream. 

Still, he felt… uncomfortable. His emotions were raw and frazzled after so long spent cooped up and helpless. Nick wasn't a pretty sight even at the best of times, he knew that, and right now that felt more obvious to him than ever. 

Part of him wanted to turn away from her, hide from the pity or the disgust he might see in her expression. Another part of him just really wanted to touch her hand. He missed feeling human contact that wasn't meant to harm.

Without a word, Nora slid her combat knife from its sheathe on her belt. Her earlier good humor seemed to have faded away now that she was up close. Nick didn't dare to break the sudden silence.

The first rope frayed apart like yarn at the touch of the blade. His hand flopped bonelessly to the floor the moment it was no longer being pulled upwards—Nick didn't have to deal with things like muscle strain, but it was still strange to suddenly have control over his limbs after being denied for so long. 

A moment's testing told him that, yes, there was something wrong with his left side. His arm felt sluggish and barely able to obey his commands. It wasn't anything he hadn't felt before—most likely the raiders had knocked loose one of the wires that helped simulate a nervous system in his plastic and metal body—but it also wasn't the sort of issue he could fix right here. He'd need his supply cache back in Diamond City to make the repairs.

That… wasn't ideal. He hoped he'd still be able to walk.

The rope holding up his right wrist joint followed a few seconds later, and then Nora knelt down to deal with the ones attached to his ankles. Her dark hair fell in a curtain around her face as she worked, hiding her expression. Nick found himself wishing he could brush it away. He wanted to know what she was thinking.

Finally, the last rope snapped. Nora rocked back onto her heels, sliding the knife away. “There,” she said. “You ready to go?”

“I...” Nick sucked in a breath, more out of habit than anything else. He wished the raiders hadn't taken his cigarettes. 

Time to see, he supposed.

The first time he tried he got halfway to standing, clutching at the wall for support, before his bum leg slid out from under him and sent him crashing to the floor. 

_Come on,_ Nick thought, berating himself or pleading with his body, he wasn't sure which. _Work, you worthless piece of scrap metal_.

He rose again, unbalanced and fell gracelessly back to the floor.

 _It's fine_ , he told himself desperately, ready to try again, a fourth time, a hundred times, as many as it took until he stopped being dead weight, but Nora's hand on his shoulder stopped him.

“Nick, what's going on?” Her whole body was tense, wound up like a spring. He could see the fear in her dark eyes.

Well, of course she'd be nervous if the person— _machine_ —who was supposed to be her partner could barely even _move_. Shame sank into him, pooling into his joints and the stomach he didn't have. What must he look like right now?

Nick paused for a moment, struggling to find some graceful way of admitting it, before finally giving up. “I don't think I can walk right now.” He tried for a self-deprecating smile, but he felt pretty sure it just came out pathetic. “Seems like those raiders scrambled my circuits a bit.”

He wanted to apologize, but he had no idea how he'd even begin to word it. _Sorry I'm so useless? Apologies for dragging you out here to rescue someone who can't even take care of his own goddamn hide?_

Nora took a slow, shaky breath. “I'm sorry.”

Nick's thought processes stuttered to a halt. “What?”

“I'm sorry I didn't find you sooner. Ellie didn't know for sure where you'd gone, and I tried the wrong place first. Ended up in some fucking cave in the middle of nowhere, spent three hours wandering around looking for a hidden door.” She laughed, but there was no humor in it. “I was sure they'd go there. Thought maybe they'd just _left_ , and I'd missed you entirely or maybe they'd already finished with you—”

“Nora,” Nick said, as calmly as he could manage with guilt clawing at his insides. “Don't—don't _apologize_. I'm the one who left without giving Ellie the right intel. I'm the one who got caught.” 

He'd thought it would be so _easy_ , in and out in a day without so much as breaking a sweat. Why even bother to mention where he was going if he'd be back before anyone noticed? 

_Idiot._

Nora frowned. “If I'd found you sooner—”

“I'm just thankful you found me at all.” He met her eyes, tried to give her the most comforting look a face like his could manage. “Not everyone could have done that.”

Very few people would have been able to, actually. Nora was a special breed. He was damned lucky to have met her, and doubly lucky that she'd somehow decided he was worth giving the time of day. Even the real Nick would have been mighty impressed by someone like her.

“Is there anyone who can fix it for you?” Nora asked. 

“Don't even need anyone's help—I can fix it myself if I can just make it back to Diamond City.”

At that, Nora's shoulders sagged. Her whole body loosened in unmistakable relief. “Good,” she said, and then again, quieter, almost desperate: “ _good_.”

Before Nick could say anything more, she was leaning forward. He had just enough time to think _wait, what?_ before she was pressed up against him and—

Nick's mind went blank as Nora's warm lips brushed against his own molded facsimile and her fingers traced along the ragged edges of his neck. She lingered there just long enough for him to realize that, yes, this absolutely was really happening, before pulling away.

Every part of his body felt suddenly cold with her absence. He wanted to close the distance between them once more, mold his body to hers, run his hands across her skin and through her hair. Only sheer disbelief held him back; some part of him was convinced that he really was dreaming somehow, or that he'd completely misinterpreted what just happened. He had a good life, all told—friends, colleagues, interesting cases—but things like that just didn't happen to him.

Even a non-detective would have trouble misinterpreting _that_ , though.

“God, Nick,” she said quietly. Her eyes glistened in the dim light; not quite crying, but not quite dry-eyed either. “I'm so glad you're alive.”

“Nora…” There was nothing he could say to that. He wasn't sure anyone had ever said that to him before; all of his memories of those words came from the real Nick. All he could do was flex his metal hand and desperately wish that he was functioning well enough to go to her without toppling over.

“Don't you _ever_ leave like that again, okay? I can't—I can't. When I was in that cave and I thought I was too late…” She trailed off, shaking her head.

Nick reached out and pressed his skeletal hand against her ankle, the only part of her he could reach without trying to move his bad side. “I promise.”

Nora pressed the heels of her palms to her eyes for a moment. When she brought her hands down again, she looked calmer. “Okay.” With a small smile, she stood. “Should we get out of here, then?”

“Ah, Nora, I can't exactly…” 

Had she forgotten? Or was she expecting him to make it out some other way? Even crawling would be difficult for him right now.

“I'm not going to make you _walk_ ,” she said, scandalized. “Come here.” 

She reached down and grabbed his wrists to tug him upright—then, without even a hint of hesitation, turned sideways, wrapped his arms around her shoulders, and pulled him onto her back. His hands went around her neck, her arms bracing his knees; his head settled against her shoulder, right next to her face.

Nick clung to her by instinct alone. He was surprised enough that he would have fallen right back off without it. From this position she had to be able to feel the missing skin along his torso and right leg, but it didn't give her pause for a moment.

“Wow.” Nora shifted her weight back and forth. “You really _are_ light.” She glanced sideways at Nick, gave him a sheepish little grin. “I was hoping you would be. Not sure what I'd do if you turned out to weigh five hundred pounds or something.”

Nick huffed out a laugh. It was all he could do at this point. “I'm not so light you won't get tired of me eventually.”

“That's just an excuse to take lots of breaks. Codsworth won't be able to fret about _idle hands_ if I'm resting from carrying you. Nothing else I could do, after all.”

There were plenty of other things she could do: head back to Diamond City herself and bring the supplies he needed here, find some local trader who might be able to help. Just plain leave him, if she wanted—plenty of folks would have done it without a second thought. More people than would have agreed to carry him all the way home without so much as being asked, certainly. 

Nick really was lucky to have met her.

He didn't mention any of those options to her, both because he knew she wouldn't take the idea well and because just the thought of spending another second in this godforsaken cell was making him break out in hives. Instead, he just wrapped his metal arm a little closer around her and asked, “Not going to offer me a bridal carry, then?”

“I think the fine folks of the Commonwealth might have a few questions for us if they saw that, Nick.” 

“Mm. And this doesn't raise any questions at all.”

“Well, see, this way I have a hand free to shoot any busybodies who get a little too curious. Can't do that if I've got my arms full of detective.”

Nick smiled helplessly. “I see you've thought this out well.”

“See?” Nora took a step forward, testing her movement with the added weight, then another. “This is why you shouldn't doubt me.”

“I never do.”

“I remember you singing a different tune last case we took together, mister.”

In his defense, she'd been all in favor of using a herd of enraged mirelurks as a distraction. “Clearly a mistake on my part.”

“ _Clearly_.” 

Weight issue apparently settled, she started walking in earnest. She took the stairs leading out of the basement cell one at a time, more carefully than she normally would, but she wasn't showing any signs of having trouble on his account.

Nick leaned into her side, let the back-and-forth motion of her movement wash over him. He thought back to those first few days locked away, when he'd first realized that no one would know where he'd gone or even that he was missing; the lead raider's cruel smile as he dug his fingers into Nick's circuitry; the moment when he'd first realized he would probably die in that cell.

And now he was about to see the sun again.

 _I'm glad you're alive too_ , he thought, hopelessly fond, and let Nora carry him out to freedom.

**Author's Note:**

> Title shamelessly stolen from the film noir picture _He Ran All the Way_ , which bears no resemblance to the plot of this fic (other than also starring a man named Nick), but does have an excellent title.


End file.
